Rdio Offers New Twist in Music Streaming

If there was anything interesting about Ping, Apple's now-dead semi-social music recommendation fiasco, it was the number of bands that opened accounts to share their musical interests (their own or otherwise) with fans.  Some acts had substantial followings on Ping--not that this ever amounted to anything useful.

Today, Rdio picks up where Ping screwed up.  I spoke to Marisol Segal, Rdio's Executive Direct of Marketing and Content, about the new Artist Program.

"We wanted to create a platform for artists to share their music and recommendations," she said.

"Artists can now set up accounts to communicate with their fans.  For each fan they can turn into an Rdio subscriber, we will pay the artist $10."

Marisol went on.  "We love musicians.  We want them to be paid.  This is a way for them to leverage our affiliate program."

All artists will be verified (no fakes!) and will have a custom page.  From the back end, they will be able access a dashboard that offers real-time referral stats about who's visiting and what they're listening to. Meanwhile, they'll have a chance to engage with their fans in a new way.

Artists who are part of the program for today's launch include Scisscor Sisters, Chromoe and Snoop Dogg Lion.

To me, this seems like what Ping should have been.  Interesting idea.  Let's see if it flies.

If you want more info (especially if you're an artist), go here.